Automatic liquid dispensing nozzle



Jan. 7, 1958 M. A. RYAN 2,818,890

AUTOMATIC LIQUID DISPENSING NOZZLE Filed Feb. 27, 1956 III/[111m INVENTOR. M. A. RYAN A TTORNE Y5 United States Patent C AUTOMAT C LIQUID DIS ENSING NQZZL Martin A. Ryan, Bartlesv-ille Okla, assignor to Phillips Petroleum Company, a corporation of Delaware Applic ion Febr ary 27*, 1956, Ser l No. 56 ,87 2 Claims. (Cl. 141-225) This invention relates to automatically operated liquid dispensing nozzles or flow control valves. In one aspect it relates to an automatic liquid dispensing nozzle, hav ing a vacuum actuated cut-oil valve, which is adapted for filling a receptacle with a liquid, such as gasoline. In another aspect it relates to an automatic liquid dispensing nozzle equipped with a valve that is manually opened and automatically shut oft when the level of liquid in the receptacle being filled reaches a givenpoint on the nozzle or when the nozzle is withdrawn from the receptacle either intentionally or accidentally.

Although my improved automatic filling nozzle has a variety of uses, it is particularly well adapted for the dispensing of g-asolinein automobile fuel tanks, and my discussion and drawings will illustrate a nozzle designed for such use but it is to be understood that my improved nozzle is not to be unduly limited thereto.

Most gasoline filling stations use a standard type of automatic filling nozzle for filling the tank of an auto-. mobile with gasoline. After insertion of the nozzle in the tank spout and while. gasoline is flowing, the attendout is free to perform other duties associated with servicing the automobile, such as cleaning the windshield, iu flating tires, etc. When the level of gasoline in the tank reaches a predetermined point on the nozzle, the valve means in the filling nozzle automatically stops the flow of gasoline and the attendant may then remove the nozzle from the tank spout when he has completed his other servicing duties. If the nozzle is left unattended in the tank spout while gasoline is flowing, it is imperative that provision be made to prevent spillage of gasoline. If during dispensing of gasoline there should be any inad= vertent removal of the nozzle from the tank spout such as would occur if, owing to the weight of the hose and alve structure, the nozzle falls out of the filling spout, f if the automobile should accidentally move; or if the gasolin lin hose should he accidentally struck, etc, un? nece sary waste of gasoline ands fire hazard will arise; W'hile automatic filling nozzles having safety means for uarding aga ns the aforementioned happenstanees have been proposed, they are limited in application to those tank sp ut which will ac ept the nozzle and actuate the safety means. The tank spouts of difierent vehicles often va y in. length nd n i e diameter and these prior art automatic filling nozzles equipped with such safety means are not adapted t fit all hese 'dilierent filling sp ut An obj ct of his in ention is m provide n impr ve automatic liq id dispensi g noz e. h ving safety mean to prev nt he p ll ge f iqui s bei g di pensed sh uld the nozzle be inadverten ly removed f om he tan of e recep acle being filled- Ano he o jec is t provides. automatic fil ing nozzle which w l not only shut oil automatically w en the tank i f ll. bu which s so es gne t t ele at on of the 19;- z from the p t f the ank erves to utom cal y sh oil the valve.

Another object is to provide an improved automatic filling nozzle having a vacuum actuated cutofi valve and adapted for filling'receptacles regardless of the length or inside diameter of the receptacles filling spout.

A further object is to provide an automatic filling nozzle which is held in an open position by reason of itscontact with the marginal surfaces of the opening of the receptas cle being filled, but which Will automatically stop the flow of liquid when the receptacle has been filled or if the nozzle is withdrawn.

Other objects and advantages. of my invention will be come apparent to those skilled in the art from the accorn= panying specification, appended claims and drawings in which the figure in the drawing is a cross sectional elevational view of an automatic liquid dispensing nozzle embodying the present invention inserted "in a liquid storage tank inlet with the valve parts in dispensing position.

My improved safety: means find particular application in that class of liquid dispensing nozzle having a vacuum actuated cutoff valve in which the shutoff is efiected automatically and in response to the sudden decrease in pressure in a vacuum bleed line which is in communica: tion with a vacuum chamber so that the negative pres.- sure is utilized to. release the valve, allowing spring means to close it. In the description which follows, I have described such a conventional filling nozzle havinga vacuum actuated cutoif valve which is used in conjunction with the improved safety means of my invention. Since such a conventional filling nozzle taken alone is not my invention, the description thereof will not be detailed and reference is made to the U. S. Patent 2,582,195 to Leonard Duerr for fuller description.

R ferring to the drawings now, the liquid dispensing nozzle. generally designated 6 has a'connection 7 for the usual hose, a normally closed main valve 8 biased to closed position by a compression spring 9, a pressure responsive diaphragm mechanism generally designatedv 11, and is operated to an. ope position by layervalve handle 2 P ovid d with. pivot, er fulcrum. generally de ignated 13. he body of the nozzle 6 is p ovided with a fluid passages ay .14 which. ead to a valve'seat 16 on which main al 8 is smel y se te by pring 9. A ring 17 is moun ed the pa sageway below t e. alve seat 6 and the in erior f t e ring .1 ha a tapered surfac which p ovide the flow passageway e 'the valve with a Venturi. Whe the ma n va v 8 is op ned inl t flew passag w 14 communica es w th an ou le fle passageway 18 in which a post 19 is disposed a d hence communicates wi flaw p ssageway 21 of the discharge nQZzle 22. The t bular nozz .22 s thre ded nto the body of the d spensing noz l 6 an i s c r he o by a Set Screw 23 The ma n valve 8 sprovi e w th a valve stem 24 which extends downwardly and outwardly of the body of nozzle 6. through a pa -ins; g and 26- The lower end of the. stem 24 is. dispo ed to he enga e by d lever 12 when he lever is ac uated upwar ly, t lift valve 8 i s seat 16 agains he forc of pr n Fulcrum 13 comprises a pin 27 on which'the lever 12 is 'pivotally mounted. The pin is supported by a clevis or yoke 28 be ween the sun et wh h he rivete end of lev r- 12 is disposed, T e yoke 28 is. at a he o t l w r n of a connecting link or plunger 2?, Upward movement 36 is adapted to urge the latch 31 counterclockwise around pin 34. The latch 31 has friction surfaces 37, 38, and 39, which are adapted to engage the rounded rear end 41 of lever 12 to hold it in any one of three positions, pressure of the spring 9 on the lever 12 creating suflicient friction between the end 41 of the lever 12 and the friction surfaces of the latch 31 to prevent spring 36 from moving latch 31 so long as the spring 9 is compressed, as is well known to those skilled in the art.

Plunger 29 is slidably disposed in post 19, which is integral with the body 6, and an externally threaded sleeve 42, the latter being threaded into post 19. Plunger 29 is urged upwardly by a coil spring 43 but is restricted in its downward travel by fulcrum 13 contacting with the base portion 44 of guard 32.

Normally the plunger 29 is held in a fixed position by a locking mechanism comprising a plurality of balls 46 nested in radial openings in the plunger 29 and an annular shoulder 47 on the interior of sleeve 42. The balls 46 are held on shoulder 47 by a pin 48 secured to the underside of diaphragm 11. The pin 48 is provided with a tapered surface 49 and below the latter with a depending stem 51 which surface serves as a ball retainer. Thus, when the pin 48 is raised to a position where the tapered portion 49 is adjacent the balls 46, plunger 29 will be actuated downwardly, by spring 9, provided hand lever 12 is in its opening position. This movement of the plunger 29 results because of the strong force of spring 9 and the relatively weaker force of spring 43. When the plunger 29 moves downwardly, fulcrum 13 is released and will occupy the dash-dot line position 13D shown whereby the valve stem 24 is lowered to 24D permitting valve 8 to close. This will allow the end 41 of lever 12 to pull off of the one of the frictional surface 37, 38 or 39 it is engaged in, and spring 36 will move latch member 31 to position 31D whereupon lever 12 will fall into position 12D as shown by the dash-dot lines.

The diaphragm 11 is actuated upwardly by a negative pressure in chamber 57 when liquid is conducted through the main valve 8. Chamber 57 communicates with a vacuum bleed line 58 which terminates in inlet opening 60 near the outlet of nozzle 22 and contains a normally closed valve assembly 59. Chamber 57 also communicates with the flow passageway 18 adjacent and immediately below valve 8 through a passageway 61A and 61. P-assageway 61 terminates in an annular groove 62 immediately below a tapered surface which provides a converged or constricted throat 63. The flow passageway of the valve 8 is designed to provide a Venturi effect on the diaphragm 11 which may be adjusted in flow area for various positions of the valve 8, other than closed, and thereby insure that sufiicient negative pressure will be developed for variable rates of fiow.

In operation, fulcrum 13 is in its initial locked position when the operator inserts the nozzle portion 22 in the spout of a receptacle desired to be filled. When the operator lifts the hand lever 12 to its desired position and locks the same in the latch member 31, valve stem 24 moves upwardly upon contact with the base portion 53 of lever 12 and lifts the valve 8 from its seat 16. The lever 12 will now occupy the position shown. 'Liquid will now flow through the nozzle from the inlet passageway 14 through the valve and thence to the flow passageways 18 and 21. Due to a Venturi effect, a negative pressure arises in the diaphragm chamber 57 resulting in air being drawn through the valve mechanism 59 when the same is in communication through line 58 with a region exterior to the nozzle 22, said air being conducted through vacuum bleed line 65 from the valve mechanism 59 into diaphragm chamber 57. The air in diaphragm chamber 57 is thence drawn therefrom through passageway 61 to the liquid flowing through the valve flow passageway. When the valve mechanism 59 is closed, air is evacuated through 4 61 from the diaphragm chamber 57 whereby the differential pressure acting thereon causes the diaphragm 11 to move upwardly against the force of spring 64. The diaphragm 11 carries with it pin 48 whereby the balls 46 are released as previously described. Plunger 29 and its fulcrum 13 are then moved downwardly by spring 9 acting through the valve stem 24 whereby the main valve 8 is automatically closed and the flow to the container is shut off. When the fulcrum 13 moves downward, pressure of the latch spring 36 is suflicient to move the latch member 31 to the dotted position 31D whereby the end portion 41 of lever 12 is disengaged from the friction surface of the latch member 31 to which it was engaged. Lever 12 thereby drops to the normal inoperative position 12D. The automatic valve parts are now restored to the normal position as follows: plunger 29 is reset by spring 43 to the position where the balls 46 will be deflected outwardly to the locking position, the balls being forced to this position by a tapered portion 49 of pin 48 which will have been released to its normal position by spring 64 when the main valve 8 is closed.

The construction and operation of cutoff valve 59 will now be described. Valve 59 comprises a valve pin element 66 which is generally cylindrical, but which is provided with a groove 67 providing passage for flow of air around the same in the position shown to allow air to enter inlet 60, and flow through pipe 58, groove 67, passage 65, chamber 57, and passage 61, and out aspirating groove 62 of Venturi 63, which constant flow prevents a substantial vacuum from being drawn in chamber 57. Valve rod 66 is positioned accurately relative to lug 68 on slidable sleeve 69, and is secured thereto by threads on 66 and lock nuts 71 and 72.

Sleeve 69 is provided with a flange 73 for engaging the inlet opening 74 of a liquid storage tank generally desig nated as 76, which in many instances is the gasoline tank of an automobile which is to be filled with gasoline.

Nozzle 22 is provided with upper and lower stop elements 77 and 79 to limit the travel of sleeve 69 and thereby prevent valve rod 66 from pulling out of body 6. The lower stop element 79 may be formed integral, or separable, with nozzle 22, and may have many diiferent forms, but I prefer to make the same as a separate ring secured to nozzle 22 by stop means such as set screws 78, and provide sleeve 79 with an abrupt upper stop shoulder and a tapered lower face 81, the latter aiding in inserting the nozzle into gasoline tank inlet 74.

Normally, when nozzle 22 is not inserted in tank 66, sleeve 69 is forced downwardly against shoulder 79 by suitable biasing means, such as helical compression spring 82. When sleeve 69 contacts shoulder 79 it will be noted that valve rod 66 is pulled outwardly in its cylinder 82 through the usual stufiing box 83 so that groove 67 is removed from communication with conduits 58 and 65, and these conduits are closed from communication with each other by the cylindrical end 84 of valve rod 66.

In operation the operator inserts nozzle 22 into the inlet 74 of the gasoline tank 76 of the automobile being serviced until fiange 73 contacts at least a portion of inlet 74 and sleeve 69 is forced back compressing spring 82 into the position shown. The inlet 74 of the gasoline tank does not have to be vertical, nor slanted at the angle shown, as this invention will operate successfully with inlet nozzles disposed anywhere from a vertical to a horizontal position, so long as the operator is able to insert nozzle 22 into tank 76 so that it will not fall out, and so long as some part of flange 73 will contact the lip of inlet 74 with suflicient force to maintain spring 82 compressed as shown. Sometimes this can be aided by the operator so positioning the relatively stiff and resilient hose line (not shown) connected to connection 7 so that it biases the nozzle 6 into the inlet 74 due to said resilience," but in servicing most automobiles it is unnecessary to do more than insert nozzle 22 into tank 67 until flange 73 contacts some portion of inlet nozzle 14. If is impossible to position the nozzle so that it will not fall out, then the operator will just have to stand there holding nozzle 6, but one advantage of my invention is that it may be so operated without adjustment, when it cannot remain automatically in place, and the more the design of the automobile gas tank tends to make an unattended automatic nozzle fall out, the more valuable the present invention becomes.

When nozzle 22 has been inserted in tank 76 as shown, and flange 73 has engaged inlet 74, and thereby positioned valve rod 66 with groove 67 connecting passages 58 and 65 as shown, and the operator believes the nozzle will stay in place, the operator moves the trigger or 1ever 12 into the position shown, raising the rod 24 against spring 9 into the position shown, thereby opening valve 8, and then latches the end 41 of lever 12 into raised position by moving latch 31 down to engage the same. Gasoline is then flowing from its source of supply (not shown) through passage 14, valve 8, passage 18 and passage 21 into tank 76. The attendant can then leave the nozzle and tend to checking the oil, cleaning the windshield, brushing out the front compartment, and all such other duties as are customary in servicing automobiles at gasoline stations, without any need to worry about the automatic liquid dispensing nozzle 6 and whether it will fall out of the tank inlet 74. The normal operation of the device is that when the liquid level of gasoline in tank 76 rises above inlet 60, air can no longer be drawn in through pipe 58, but only liquid gasoline which is more viscous and much heavier. As the flowing gasoline in passing through Venturi 63 is pulling air out of chamber 57 through passage 61, this air is then no longer being replaced through pipe 58, groove 67 and conduit 65. As the result a considerable vacuum is pulled in chamber 57, and as air can enter chamber 86 on the opposite side of diaphragm 11 around plunger 29, if desired, or as aided by a small air passage 87, diaphragm 11 is drawn upward compressing spring 64, withdrawing pin 48, and allowing balls 46 to move inwardly off of seat 47, so that plunger 29 and retracted balls 46 can move downwardly into the reduced diameter portion of sleeve 42 in response to the superior force exerted by spring 9 through valve 8 and valve stem 42 on lever 12, as opposed to the inferior force of spring 43 directed in the other direction. As described above, valve 8 immediately closes, latch 31 fiies into the position 31D and lever 12 into the position 12D as shown in dotted lines, valve 8 closed and valve stem 24 moving into dotted line position 24D.

However, suppose while the nozzle is in the position shown in the drawings, the nozzle for any reason falls out, or is pulled out, of inlet 74 onto the ground adjacent the automobile before the gasoline level has reached inlet 60. With the automatic filling nozzles of the prior art, unless the fall was enough to jar the latch mechanism 31 loose, the valve 8 might remain in open position and gasoline would be pumped on the ground adjacent the automobile, with some resulting fire hazard until such time as the operator rushed over and released the latch 31, allowing the nozzle to close. With the present invention, however, as soon as nozzle 6 moves outwardly relative to inlet 64 enough to allow spring 82 to force sleeve 69 down nozzle 22 until flange 73 contacts stop 79, the flow of gasoline is immediately shut off generally before the nozzle falls completely out, because the valve rod 66 will move groove 67 out of communication with conduit 65, and conduit 61 will immediately pull the vacuum in chamber 57 which will cause diaphragm 11 to compress spring 64, and through the mechanism described above, will close valve 8 and release latch 31 and lever 12.

It is thus apparent that should the filling nozzle be accidentally removed from the spout of the container beingfilled while liquid is being dispensed, spillage of liquid is impossible. With a filling nozzle provided with an improved safety means of my invention the attendant is free: to perform his other servicing duties after having set the lever handle in the appropriate latch yolk without having to maintain surveillance of the liquid dispensing operation. In reducing to practice the preferred embodiment of my invention, I have perfected a more safe and reliable automatic liquid dispensing nozzle which has performed satisfactorily in actual use.

Variations and modifications of my invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of my invention and it should be understood that the foregoing discussion and drawings are for illustrative purposes and do not unduly limit my invention.

I claim:

1. In an automatic shut-off dispensing nozzle for insertion in the spout of a container to be filled with liquid comprising a valve body with a liquid passage therein, a valve in said body adapted to be seated in a constricted portion of said passage to control the flow of liquid therethrough, a valve spring urging said valve to a closed position, a diaphragm and chamber associated therewith, said chamber and said constricted portion being in communication with one another whereby air will be aspirated from said chamber during flow of liquid, a lever having a position for manually opening said valve against the pressure of said valve spring, a friction latch for holding the lever in said position, a discharge nozzle communicating with said passage, an air duct inside said nozzle and having one end opening to said chamber, the other end of said air duct in communication with an orifice disposed adjacent the discharge end of said nozzle whereby air is drawn from said orifice through said chamber into said constricted opening when fluid flows therethrough and said air duct is unobstructed, and an operative connection between said diaphragm and said valve whereby when air is prevented from entering said chamber said diaphragm will be moved to operatively actuate a mechanism for releasing said lever from said friction latch so as to release said valve and permit it to close, the improvement comprising an annular sleeve disposed around said discharge nozzle and adapted for limited sliding movement thereon relative thereto, a helical compression spring disposed to normally bias said sleeve toward the discharge end of said discharge nozzle, a valve actuating member on said sleeve, a valve assembly secured to the inside of said nozzle, said assembly having a valve seat therein disposed in said air duct in communication with the said other end of said air duct and in communica tion with said orifice, a normally seated valve in said assembly having a valve stem extending through the wall of said nozzle, said valve stem adapted to come into contact with said valve actuating member when said nozzle is inserted in said spout in such a manner so as to bias said sleeve toward said nozzle when said sleeve comes into contact with the marginal surfaces of said spout, thereby allowing air to be drawn from said orifice to said air duct.

2. In an automatic shut-0E dispensing device comprising in combination a liquid dispensing line having a restricted intermediate portion forming a valve seat and a nozzle downstream of said seat adapted for insertion in a container to be filled with said liquid, a chamber in said device, a pressure responsive member associated with said chamber, said chamber and said restricted portion being in communication with each other whereby air will be drawn from said chamber during the flow of liquid through said valve, an air duct communicating with said chamber at one end and having its other end adjacent the discharge end of said nozzle, and means actuated by said pressure responsive member to close said valve when air is prevented from entering said chamber through said air duct, the improvement comprising 8 a second valve controlling flow through said air duct, a "References Cited in the file of this patent sleeve slidably mounted on the exterior of said nozzle 8 i and disposed to contact said container and slide upstream UNITED STATES PATENTS on said nozzle to open said valve, and means normally biasing said sleeve to slide in the other direction to close 5 2110941 Payner 1938 2,595,166 Rhodes Apr. 29, 1952 sa1d valve. 

